Priorities
by Hopeakaarme
Summary: Fay is annoying, especially in the mornings. However, Kurogane discovers there are things that he enjoys even less than Fay's morning cheer. A Horitsuba fic. Shounenai KuroFay.


**Disclaimer: **Kurogane and Fay both belong to CLAMP.

**A/N:** This is one of my responses to **15-flames**, the prompt for this one being _#3: Post-it note_. As some of the other responses will be pictures, to see them all, look for _draconn-malfoy_ at LiveJournal.

This is the end result of combining a clearly modern day prompt, an author with a fondness for drama, and listening to the Horitsuba Gakuen 2nd Drama CD for a few hours non-stop.

* * *

Priorities

* * *

When Kurogane woke up, there was something sticking onto his forehead.

A closer inspection revealed the offending thing to be a post-it note. Peeling it off his skin, rather irritated, he squinted at it, trying to make some sense of the writing. (Honestly. If he hadn't known better he could have thought the blonde was completely illiterate and just pretended to be writing.)

"Kuro-pon," the note started, immediately drawing his mouth into a grimace, "come and join me in the kitchen once you're awake. I'm making breakfast. – Fay"

He muttered a couple of curses. Seriously. Not only was the blond humiliating him in such a way – honestly! A post-it note! – but also using his kitchen as though it were his. (Not that he minded, of course. If there was something the blond could do well, it was cooking. It didn't stop him from being doubtful, of course – he knew very well what kind of concoctions Fay played with every day in his job.)

Finally, though, he dragged himself out of the bed, threw on some clothes, and prepared himself to face the blonde's annoying cheerfulness. The only bad thing about Fay staying over was definitely the fact that he had to stand the chemistry teacher's morning cheer. Kurogane was not a morning person – and Fay was around-the-clock person, as it sometimes appeared.

Ah, well. At least the sex somewhat made up for the torture.

* * *

Rare though it was, Kurogane was actually having a break in the middle of the day. Time without lessons during school day was quite relaxing, actually; with everybody else busy in classes, there was nobody to disturb him.

…Okay, scratch that. His cell phone suddenly started ringing in his pocket, Fay's voice cheerfully singing, "I'm your little butter-Fay!" The blonde had recorded it on his cell phone – without permission, Kurogane reminded himself – and set it as the ring tone for himself. Despite all his complaints, he hadn't gotten around to changing it, either. (He did, however, keep the cell phone on silent whenever there were other people about and even the slightest chance of the chemistry teacher calling him existed.)

Now he dug his phone out of his pocket, grimacing at the tiny cat-shaped toy hanging from the otherwise perfectly respectable black phone. Now, that was one thing he would have gladly thrown away – it was simply too childish – but he knew the blonde would give him hell about it. "It's like I'm always with you," he had said with Silly Smile #37, meaning, 'Don't argue or you'll regret it'. So, there was very little Kurogane could do unless he wanted a taste of celibacy. And he knew very well the blonde could wait longer than he could.

Indeed. The phone's screen informed him that somebody named "Fayry" in his phonebook was calling him. Well, he probably had no choice but to answer the call.

"Why are you calling me at this time?" he asked irritably. "Don't you have a lesson right now?"

"Hyuuu, Kuro-rin has memorized my schedule!" the blonde squealed. "That's so romantic!"

"Shut the Hell up," Kurogane muttered. In truth, he had indeed memorized Fay's schedule. This was, however, only because that way he knew when he could expect to have a moment of peace from the chemistry teacher. Except that it didn't seem to be working. "Why're you calling me?"

"Aww, I just wanted to hear Kuro-pon's voice," the blonde announced cheerfully. Kurogane could swear he heard students snickering in the background. He did not like the way the blonde spoke to him in public and could only hope students thought it was just his usual teasing. He definitely didn't need the students to know who he was sleeping with.

"Well, now you've heard it, so leave me be," he replied irritably. "I don't have the time for this."

"You don't?" Kurogane could hear the playful pout in the blonde's voice. "I thought you had a free period! You know what, you really should –"

Kurogane never found out what he really should do, since at that moment, Fay's words were cut off by a loud sound that sounded suspiciously like an explosion. The gym teacher's irritation was instantly away, replaced by shock.

"Hey, idiot, what's going on there?" he called out. "Answer me, you idiot!" There was no response. After several tries, he finally even resigned to calling out, "Fay! Answer me, damnit!"

Still, there was no response.

In the other end, a small cell phone lay on blackened floor. The glowing green screen told that it was still calling somebody named "Kuro-rin 3".

Kurogane stared at his phone in shock. Now, he was quite certain that was not intentional on the blonde's part. While Fay sometimes had quite an odd sense of humour, even he would never pretend to be blown up. It would put his precious students in danger, and that Fay would never do on purpose.

It seemed everybody close enough had noticed the explosion – not that it would have been possible to ignore, really. However, Kurogane paid no attention to the people he passed while running down the corridors towards the chemistry lab. They were not important now.

When he got to the lab, he saw several students making their way out of the laboratory. Some were coughing, some were crying, and all looked panicked. He grabbed a student who seemed a bit calmer than most – Doumeki, he recalled vaguely – and asked what had happened.

"There was an explosion," Doumeki replied. "Fay-sensei pushed the students closest to it away and got injured himself. Aside from that, I don't know anything."

Kurogane cursed. Damn that idiot. He just had to go and get himself killed, didn't he? Well, that was not going to happen if Kurogane had any say in it.

Ignoring the startled cries his action caused, Kurogane rushed into the laboratory. Staying low to keep out of the rapidly thickening smoke, he saw fire flickering somewhere in the chaos.

Fay had been at his desk, so he must be close to it still. With this in mind, he headed towards the front of the classroom, looking for the familiar white coat.

After a moment he spotted the lab coat in the middle of the smoke. Rushing towards it and the person wearing it, he couldn't help but be shocked at the blonde's appearance. There were tears and burns all over Fay's front, his expression oddly serious in unconsciousness. (Oddly, because Fay never seemed to be serious if he could help it.)

The crackling of the fire reminded him that he had no time for gawking. Lifting the blonde's lithe body into his arms, alarmed at how little he weighed, Kurogane rushed out of the classroom.

He was greeted with relieved cheers. Fighting his way through the crowd of teenagers, he held Fay close to himself, not wanting him to be hurt anymore.

Yuuko appeared from somewhere in her usual fashion. "My, my, Kurogane-sensei," she said, smirking. "I never knew you cared so much."

"Shut the fuck up and get him some medical attention," Kurogane growled. "The idiot almost got himself killed."

"Oh, sure. We have nurses right here. If you would just let go of him..."

Kurogane did let go, in the end. However, he still stayed close to Fay, refusing to leave the blonde's side.

After one glance at his expression, nobody tried to protest.

* * *

Fay looked even paler than usual in the middle of white hospital sheets, bandages all over him. His injuries had been rather bad, just like Kurogane had feared when he had first seen the blonde. It would take him a long time to recover.

Fay was alive, though, and that was more important than anything. As they had concluded from the students' accounts on the accident, it was probably entirely thanks to him that all the students were alive as well. His nightstand was full of get-well cards from concerned students, all frantic for the recovery of their favourite teacher.

(Kurogane had put a card there too, one without a name on it – no need to give anybody any more speculation material than they already had from his panicked behaviour after the explosion. He knew the blonde would still know it was from him. There was nobody else who would give him an unsigned get-well card with a sick little kitten on it.)

After glancing around to make sure nobody was around to see, he sneakily took the blonde's hand into his as though seeking reassurance that Fay truly was still there. The hand was very thin and pale in his hand, light like a little bird. He could have probably broken it just by squeezing a bit.

Kurogane's thumb gently caressed Fay's hand as he continued to sit by the blonde's bed.

* * *

When Kurogane woke up, there was something sticking to his forehead.

A closer inspection revealed the offending thing to be a post-it note. Peeling it off his skin, he made to decipher the Fay-code once again to find something resembling comprehensible text.

"Kuro-in," the note started, "breakfast is waiting in the kitchen. Come join me. –Fay"

There was something small scribbled in the side of the note, too. After a minute or five of staring at it, Kurogane finally managed to figure out what it was supposed to read.

"P.S. I promise not to blow anything up, including myself."

For a moment he stared at the note, lost in not-so-pleasant memories of the time a month ago when something had indeed been blown up. Finally, though, he threw the note aside, dragged himself out of the bed and threw some clothes on.

As he walked towards the kitchen and the smiling sadist awaiting him there, however, he actually thought that having to stand Fay's morning cheer was definitely better than not having the blonde there at all.


End file.
